# What's a Dollypartridge? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 5, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-dollypartridge/258506 "2004-08-05T20:30:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![citrus\_x\_paradisi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@citrus\_x\_paradisi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/citrus_x_paradisi)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-dollypartridge/258506/1 "2004-08-05T20:30:28Z")
In a discussion about period writing about 18th- and 19th-Century Ireland, someone referenced a ‘dollypartridge’ as being an appropriate reference to make. Problem is, I don’t know what they’re talking about, and Google’s no help. Perhaps some kind Doper could help me out here? Thanks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Thylacinewas\_taken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@Thylacinewas\_taken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacinewas_taken)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-dollypartridge/258506/2 "2004-08-05T21:19:13Z")
> [@citrus x paradisi](#): > > In a discussion about period writing about 18th- and 19th-Century Ireland, someone referenced a ‘dollypartridge’ as being an appropriate reference to make. Problem is, I don’t know what they’re talking about, and Google’s no help. Perhaps some kind Doper could help me out here? > > Thanks. 🙂 It sounds like Dolly Parton to me. Were they talking about someone Dolly-Partonesque? That’s all I’ve got… I’m sorry. _sulks away_ ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-dollypartridge/258506/3 "2004-08-05T21:23:18Z")
I think she was Keith and Lori’s grandma. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-dollypartridge/258506/4 "2004-08-05T21:49:57Z")
Was this a spoken or written conversation? Without any further context, my best guess is that it might be a mangling of “Dolly Varden.” (Flashy women were commonly called “Dolly Vardens” in the 19th century, after the Dickens character. The butt-ugly fish came to be called that later.) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-dollypartridge/258506/5 "2004-08-05T22:05:02Z")
Bad GQ form, relying on memory like that. Digging around for a cite, I find that “Dolly Varden” was applied to the _costume_ of said women, not the women themselves. :smack: > [@](#): > > a woman’s dress of the late 19th century, including a flower-trimmed, broad-brimmed hat and a dress consisting of a tight bodice and bouffant panniers in a flower print over a calf-length quilted petticoat. Dickens’ description: > [@](#): > > As to Dolly, there she was again, the very pink and pattern of good looks, in a smart little cherry-coloured mantle, with a hood of the same drawn over her head, and upon the top of that hood, a little straw hat trimmed with cherry-coloured ribbons, and worn the merest trifle on one side-just enough in short to make it the wickedest and most provoking head-dress that ever malicious milliner devised. My apologies, of course, if Dolly Varden has no connection whatsoever to dollypartridge. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-dollypartridge/258506/6 "2004-08-05T22:06:42Z")
The Celts believed birds to be celestial messengers and bearers of magical power. The raven is the bird of prophecy, the pheasant of good fortune and the \*\*partridge \*\* is a symbol of **cunning** and also of Christ; hence the “[partridge in a pear tree](http://www.novareinna.com/festive/twelve.html)”. The partridge has two opposing meanings. It may be used as a symbol of the church and truth, or as a symbol of deceit and theft. Most commonly, however, the partridge is considered a [symbol of the devil](http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/translat/54r.hti). The “Doll Partridge” referred to by your frinds was a slang term applied to a harlot who played the young innocent. It described the dual nature of the role, and the affected sweet “doll” quality she would use. Not really…I just made that bit up. I have no clue what they are talking about either. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-dollypartridge/258506/7 "2004-08-05T22:13:24Z")
“Dollypartridge” sounds like [one of these things](http://www.angelfire.com/ia/npcc/images/111.JPG). ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-dollypartridge/258506/8 "2004-08-05T22:41:59Z")
A double-breasted partidge. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-dollypartridge/258506/9 "2004-08-06T11:01:13Z")
The ironically named Eric Partridge doesn’t list either “dollypartridge” or “dollypartridge” in his _Dictionary of Historical Slang_ (1937; Penguin, 1972). However, he does have separate entries for “dolly” and “partridge”. Dolly had quite a few meanings, but it could mean a mistress or a prostitute. As an adjective, it meant silly or foolish. Slang usage of partridge was narrower: it’s a late 17th and early 18th century term for a prostitute. Seems likely that they meant a prostitute, **citrus** (or thought they did). ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-dollypartridge/258506/10 "2004-08-06T16:40:32Z")
It’s a game bird, usually seen flying around a Dollyllama. I know, I’m not helping… ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-dollypartridge/258506/11 "2004-08-06T20:55:20Z")
OK, **citrus**. You got some shaggy partridge stories and you gots some good guesses. Can you give us any more help as to whether you heard/spelled it right? Could it have been “Dolly Varden?” What kind of a discussion were you in? University setting? If so, could you ask the person who cited it for a further explanation? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-dollypartridge/258506/12 "2004-08-06T21:44:42Z")
> [@Balle\_M](#): > > It’s a game bird… Well, **bonzer** ’s research suggests it may be a bird on the game, anyway. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![citrus\_x\_paradisi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@citrus\_x\_paradisi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/citrus_x_paradisi)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2004, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-a-dollypartridge/258506/13 "2004-08-07T02:39:44Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > Can you give us any more help as to whether you heard/spelled it right? > What kind of a discussion were you in? University setting? If so, could you ask the person who cited it for a further explanation? It’s on an online writing forum. People have a habit of posting work, and then disappearing, so I wasn’t optimistic about having the author offer an explanation. Seems like ‘prostitute’ is the most likely candidate. Thanks a lot, gang. 🙂